Transition to Leadership CRF2011 FINAL

© H. Ibarra© H. Ibarra

Transition to Leadership

Herminia Ibarra The CORA Chaired Professor of Leadership & Learning, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour

CRF Master Class 23 November, 2011


A Brief History of Leadership

• Who leaders are• What leaders do• How leaders develop


Leaders are people who:• Establish an ambitious goal or direction for a group• Gain the cooperation & commitment of those they need

to move in that direction • Motivate and inspire people to overcome the obstacles

that stand in the way of achieving their goals

A Behavioral Definition of Leadership


Managerial & Leadership Roles are Different

• Ensure efficiency vs. create change • Work within vs. outside and across the boxes • Rely on positional vs. personal power


The Developmental Challenge

• Leadership roles require:• More time devoted to strategic thinking & agenda setting• Greater clarity of purpose: “why?”• More “emotional intelligence”

• But, most of us are rewarded for:• Operational and technical skills• Execution• “People sins” forgiven as long as we perform


Buzz Groups

• How has the kind of leadership you (and your high potentials) are asked to provide changed over the past two years or so?

• What do you (and your high potentials) struggle most with as you shift into bigger leadership roles?


The “Ask”

• X has a deep and wide operational background and a demonstrated ability to work through problems in a systematic way. At the next level, the complexity of problems he will encounter are going to demand an approach to problem solving that takes into account a number of different stakeholder and that will be long term in nature.

• C needs to improve her people management. She is able to drive delivery of results and execution flawlessly but still needs to develop her people touch. She could also benefit from better time management to allow her to spend more time on strategic topics


Key Shifts in the Transition to Bigger Leadership Roles

1. Shifting from an operational/functional role & mindset to a more strategic role & mindset

2. Shifting from working through existing internal networks to creating & bridging across internal & external networks

3. Shifting from a dominant (usually hands-on and directive) leadership style to a broader stylistic repertory and more collaborative forms of leadership


• Environments change & expectations change• Yet, we fail to see the shift & continue to rely on what has

made us successful in the past• Barriers to change are less a matter of “skill” but work

values & time allocations that correspond to former roles and deeply internalized identities

• Transitions provoke deep self-questioning: who am I? who do I want to become? Can I do it? is it worth the effort?

What Got You Here Won’t Even Keep You Here


Example: Are Leaders Portable?

Harvard study of 20 GE alumni with experience in “growth & expansion” versus “cost-cutting” roles (Groysberg, 2006)

• Like to like transitions: + 14.1% returns• Like to unlike transitions: -39.8%


Competencies & skills

Style & image Relationships& networks

1. See the Shift


2. Escape Identity Traps

• Competency traps• Authenticity traps• Performance Traps• Positive illusion traps


Competency Traps

A successful behavior pattern that precludes search for more adaptive possibilities.

1. Experience/competence/preference cycles. We become better at what we already do well, breeding both success and the satisfaction of a task well-done. The more expert we become, the greater the enjoyment and, therefore, the motivation to get more experience that deepens our knowledge even more.


Competency Traps (continued)

2. Opportunity costs and loss aversion. The better we are at something, the higher the opportunity cost of doing something else. Returns to exploitation are more certain, closer in time and closer in space than are the returns to exploration.

3. Buffering. The more expert we become, the more we surround ourselves with people who can appreciate our expertise, buffering ourselves from people and situations in which our competencies don’t have currency.


Authenticity Traps

Staying inside one’s comfort zone in order to avoid feeling inauthentic, i.e., untrue to oneself.

“What I am supposed to do, send an email saying “how’s it going?” That seems fake to me. I feel more comfortable saying “let’s talk about the business.” I know there are people I need to keep contact with, strategically, but I struggle for how to keep the contact.”

“We are in danger today of being mesmerized by people who play with our reptilian brain. For me, it is manipulation. I can do the storytelling, but I refuse to play on people’s emotions. If the string is too obvious, I can’t make myself do it.”


Performance Traps

A behavior pattern aimed at validating a self-image.

• Performance goals: show others & validate for ourselves that we have a valued attribute (e.g., intelligence)

• Learning goals: develop a valued attribute. • People seeking to validate a self-image prefer tasks that will help

them look good over tasks that will help them learn.

“You are not supposed to be an expert in everything but peoplefall in this pitfall where you want to express an opinion in everygoddam thing even if you don’t know. That’s a trap people fallinto.”


Positive Illusion Traps

Our tendency to see ourselves in the best light possible and to reinforce that tendency by surrounding ourselves with people who confirm our self-views.

• “Lake Wobegone” effect• 360-feedback person-observer gaps


Buzz Groups

• What do you do (and don’t do) to help people avoid the traps?

• What might you do?


3. Increase Self-Outsight


Attraction

What is the top determinant of chemistry in a professional relationship? • Intelligence• Attractiveness • Similarity • Frequent contact (proximity)• Power/status


The Effects of Online Social Networks


Trapped in Your Own Net

• Birds of a feather effect: “homosocial” reproduction• Internally focused; inbred• Slow to adapt: Network lag


• Look outward for a fresh perspective • Add to your toolkit before you subtract• Change your reference group to create new benchmarks

• Build new peer groups to provide support• Seek role models that show the way

• Create slack in your schedule

Increase Self-outsight


Summary

• Recognize the shift• Avoid the traps• Increase self-”outsight”

Transition to Leadership CRF2011 FINAL

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